My
Lord, I am 39 years old. I
was a clerk and canvasser. I am a married man and have seven small
children. I
joined the African National Congress in 1948 and remained a member
until 1954when I was banned from
membership of this organization. Although I am a listed communist I did
not
join the Communist Party after it had been banned, but I do admit that
I was on
the

technical committee of the
Johannesburg Region and was
recruited to Umkhonto we Sizwe during the end of 1962....

There was nothing left for us
to do except suffer [after the ANC was banned]. Then Umkhonto we Sizwe
was formed. When I was asked to
join it I did so. There was nothing else I could do. Any African who
thought
the way I did about my own life and the lives of my people would have
done the
same. There was nothing else....
I did what I
did because I wanted to help my people in their struggle for equal
rights. When
I was asked to join Umkhonto we Sizwe it was at the time when it was
clear to
me that all our years of peaceful struggle had been of no use. The
government
would not let us fight peacefully anymore and blocked all our legal
acts by making
them illegal. I thought a great deal about the matter. I could see no
other way
open to me. What I did brought me no personal gain. What I did, I did
for my
people and because I thought itwas
be only way left for me to help
my people. That is all I have
to say.

In
addition, my Lord, I want to say that I was assaulted by the Security
Branch in
an attempt to make me make astatement....
More than three months ago
they arrested my wife and detained her under 90-days. And when she
finished her
90-days, she was re-arrested again. As it is she is still in jail. I
consider
this disgraceful on the part of the police, my Lord, that a woman with
seven
children should be punished, because of offences committed by me. That
is all I
have to say.

Statement from the dock by Andrew Mlangeni,
defendant

The court can now see
that some of the evidence given against me is
true and some false. I have chosen not to give evidence, my Lord,
because first
of all I do not want to be cross- examined about people I have worked
with and
places I have visited in case I might give these people away. Also, my
Lord, I
have frankly admitted that I have assisted Umkhonto we Sizwe. I want to
say
that I joined the ANC in 1954. I did it because I want to work for my
people. I
did this because of the treatment my people have received from the
rulers of
this country. In the ANC I found a political home where I was free to
talk
against the government.

South Africa, my Lord, is a
very
rich country, the resources could be exploited for the benefit of all
the
people who live in it. This government and the previous governments
have
exploited not the earth but the people of various racial groups whose
colour is
not white. But the government daily makes suppressive laws in its white
Parliament, which laws are aimed at suppressing the political
aspirations of
the majority of the people who have no say. I know that you, my Lord,
have to
administer the law, but when you do so, I ask you to remember what we,
the
Africans and non- white people, have had to suffer. That is all I have
to say
except to add that what I did was not for myself but for my
people....